12 in 12

I’ve had the shop in a state of semi-shut down for over a month now. I do plan to open it back up, don’t fret, but I am still in a “catching up” state. My machine never ended up going in for service last Winter when I was home with a fresh baby, so it will be going in this weekend along with the serger. Both desperately in need of a tune up. Besides the machines needing a break, the other reason I went to ready to ship items only is because I have a personal to do list as long as the Mississippi. In November, I made the boys some Christmas pajamas. In December, I made a quilted tree skirt for our first real tree. Take that personal to do list!

Over the past couple years, I’ve started accumulating more books and patterns than I would like to admit. With the new year here and a goal to do more personal projects, I’m going to follow Amanda’s lead and commit to 12 in 12. She’s planning on 12 quilts by the end of 2014. I was planning to commit to 12 personal projects, but I’ll up my personal ante and commit to 12 patterns that I have already purchased. Or a project from a purchased book. Hold me to it, ok?

First up, I’ve been working on the Science Fair quilt by Jaybird Quilts. I purchased the pattern, a pack of 13 fat quarters, and the Hex n More ruler back in September at Quiltfest and it has since sat on the shelf untouched. It was the obvious choice for my first project. First…SCIENCE. Second…it was a pretty gender neutral set of prints and in a house of boys, I thought that might go over better. Our living room is a dark grey, so the plan is for it to live there.

After sewing up a quick pair of Star Wars pajama pants for Bug Tuesday night, I started cutting my strips and pairing them up.

Wednesday and Thursday nights I attached my strips and started cutting and piecing.

I haven’t purchased my background material or the backing yet, so I’m not sure what progress it will make, but I’m hoping by the end of January I can show you my first finished quilt top! I’ve managed to start the piecing and have to attach the final triangle to create each half hex. This far into my first quilt, I’m not sure this is for me. A project I worked on all week and don’t have a finished project to show? Also, it is A LOT of ironing. While our basement is freezey cold, it isn’t a big deal and actually sort of welcome since the iron heats up the room, but in general, I hate ironing. Perhaps I’ll feel differently when I see the finished piece. I think I’m doing ok. My lines seem to match up…so far.

I know I have a long way to go. And I’ve already picked out my next quilt project (or 2) so maybe it is for me? I don’t know…I’ll also be trying out Craftsy’s Block of the Month (affiliate link) this year. It is a FREE class. You can’t really beat that. Seems like a fun way to use up some scraps and learn something.